His Holiness in Florida
His Holiness addresses an audience in Florida |
New York 21 September: His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived in Miami in the afternoon of September 17, 2004, and was received at the airport by Dr. Nawang Rabgyal, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Mr. David Dawson, representative of Nova Southeastern University, Khenpo Gyurme of Osel Dorji Nyingpo Center and representatives of the State Department.
Reaching Renaissance Hotel, His Holiness was received by Mr. Ray Ferrero Jr, and Mr. George L. Hanbury, president and administrative executive vice president, respectively, of Nova Southeastern University.
The welcoming group also included a group of university students and practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism.
Accepting an honorary doctorate degree in humane letters from Nova Southeastern University President Ray Ferrero on 18 September, His Holiness the Dalai Lama remarked jocularly that his knowledge had not increased to do justice to the very, many academic degrees he had received over the years.
Later, His Holiness gave a public talk on “Universal Responsibility” to 10,500 people.
He urged his listeners to pay more attention to inner values, stressing human affection as a pillar of our survival. These important human values, His Holiness said, can be cultivated by the
believers and non-believers alike.
The secret is to look inside ourselves, recognise our own good values and then work on them for their development.
After the public talk, His Holiness consecrated a four-feet-high Tibetan prayer wheel, which will be installed in the University’s library. At noon, His Holiness attended a luncheon reception hosted by the University.
Following this, His Holiness gave a private audience to the University President and his family members and the student organisers.
His Holiness also participated in a “Distance Learning” demonstration of the University, where he interacted through video conferencing with the students in Palm Beach and Puerto Rico through videoconference.
Nova Southeastern University is a private institute, specialising in health science and technology.
His Holiness moved from Renaissance Hotel to Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Miami in the morning of 19 September. Immediately after arriving at the Mandarin Hotel, His Holiness gave an interview to the Telemundo NBC television. After the interview, His Holiness attended a luncheon reception, hosted by Osel Dorji Nyinpo Center at the Biltmore Hotel.
From Biltmore Hotel, His Holiness left for the Office Deport Center in Sunrise to give a public talk on “World Peace through Inner Peace”. The talk was attended by 13,000 people.
Naming intelligence and affection as the two most important human assets, His Holiness said, “If human intelligence is guided by human affection, then it could bring tremendous benefit to the self as well as others.” Commenting on violence, His Holiness termed it a path to self-destruction. “War is out of date, obsolete,” he said.
What we must realise, he said, is that “my interest in the future”, or “my economic prosperity”, depends very much on “others”. By the same token, the long-term interests and economic prosperity of “others” also depend on “me”. From this perspective, you can see “even your enemy” as worthy of respect, His Holiness said.
Report Courtesy – OoT New York